Life Hotel History

Learn More About Our Unique Historic NYC Hotel

​Buildings that have been around for nearly 125 years are bound to have an interesting backstory, and Life Hotel is no exception. Learn a little about our history.

New York City, 1894: the height of the Gilded Era, on the cusp of a new century. Grover Cleveland was President, department stores Macy’s and Lord & Taylor were changing the retail landscape with their first ever Christmas holiday window displays and new inventions were booming in the Big Apple, with the arrival of the elevator, steel beam construction and the skyscraper.

Enter John Ames Mitchell, the founder, former editor and mastermind behind the iconic LIFE Magazine. Mitchell moved magazine operations to 19 West 31st Street upon the building’s completion in 1895 by the architectural team of John Mervin Carrère and Thomas Hastings.

A true visionary, Mitchell had his talented team of artists, writers and creative staff lived in the apartments on the top floors and worked in a shared office space on the lower floors – essentially the first “co-working” space of the era. A giant library and massive writing rooms occupied the third floor of the building, and a rumored Prohibition speakeasy bar for LIFE staffers was later found in the basement. Famous inhabitants roaming the halls and occupying the apartments included Charles Dana Gibson, Norman Rockwell, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Margaret Bourke-White and Robert Capa. Charles Dana Gibson was handpicked by Mitchell to be the inaugural creative art director for LIFE, and later his successor as Editor in Chief. Gibson was best known for his famed “Gibson Girl, the perfect woman” – an iconic representation of the beautiful and independent American woman at the turn of the 20th century, as featured in LIFE Magazine. Gibson modeled his “perfect woman” after his wife, who was the only female tenant throughout the magazine’s residency.

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In 1936, Henry R. Luce bought the rights to LIFE Magazine; his goal was to revamp the publication and fill a cultural void for Americans through politics, art, economics, humor and leisure. In doing so, Luce created the first multimedia corporation, and is considered one of the most influential and powerful figures in American journalism.The LIFE team’s creative spirit has lived on throughout the neighborhood. Though the term “NoMad” was not officially coined until 1999, this area of NYC was known as a meeting place for the Gilded Age elite and a mecca for shoppers, tourists and restaurant patrons. Back in the day, it was not unusual to see the likes of Franklin Roosevelt, Jimmy Stewart, Nikolas Tesla, Henry Ford, Mark Twain, Charles Dickens and other luminaries strolling the streets!Today, Life Hotel has been restored to its former glory, not only in design but also in its unique, creative spirit and architectural splendor.Enjoy your stay as you sleep, dine, and drink in history.Want to know more?

LIFE Magazine was published from 1883-2007, and the team lived in 19 West 31st Street from 1895-1931.

Franco-American sculptor Philip H. Martiny (1858-1927) created the Life Angel at our entrance.

Carrère and Hastings are best known for their landmark projects like the New York Public Library, Frick Mansion and Ponce de León in St. Augustine, Florida.

Our half-moon birdcage elevator is one of only two in the United States.

In the 1890s it was one of the taller (skyscraper) buildings in New York City.

It was one of the first buildings to use steel throughout its structure.

Many of our guest rooms have the original floors from the artists’, writers’ and editors’ apartments.

Wood paneling in the lobby and our Speakeasy was a result of a nationwide search to find what was originally designed in the building.

Molding in the guestrooms are replicated and restored from what was found throughout the building.

A new collection of emerging local NYC artists is curated throughout the guest rooms, corridors and lobby - over 200 original pieces.